The Inner Demon
by Creggytree
Summary: After the Sock Opera, the mystery twins suspected that all well ends well, right? WRONG. When Dipper's life takes a turn for the worst, he begins to shut himself off from others, in fear that he will hurt those who he loves most, especially Mabel, and Mabel feels like she can't her brother even though now is when he needs it most.
1. Chapter 1

"C'mon, bro-bro, let's go home...", Mabel said.

"Seriously, I need a hospital..." Dipper replied weakly.

The two twins got into Stan's car, Mabel assisting her sore brother, and they began to head back to the Mystery Shack. Everyone was chattering about the show and praising Mabel for it, except for Dipper.

Mabel picked up on this and looked over at her brother, who was rubbing his arm with his fingers, almost tracing it. He wore a depressing expression that made Mabel feel bad, too. Well, worse than she already felt.

"What's wrong?" Mabel asked with concern in her voice.

Dipper remained quiet, but then he showed Mabel the arm he had been finger tracing. It had holes in it... small, but relatively deep.

"What happened?" Mabel asked although she already kind of knew the answer.

"_Bill_..." Dipper replied quietly, but you could still hear the tension in his voice.

Mabel was about to say something to comfort her twin, but then they arrived at The Shack, and everyone began to file out of the car.

"We're here, Dipper!" Mabel cheerily said to her brother who wasn't moving. "Dipper...".

Her brother looked like he was in a daze, but Mabel could understand why. It must be hard for someone to have a demon possess their body as you watch them torture it... she guessed. Still, Mabel didn't really know how to handle a situation like this, and she felt guilty for it.

Dipper suddenly snapped his head up, a random alertness springing him back into reality. "Okay, let's go inside" he replied to Mabel's question from earlier.

Mabel comfortingly smiled as they walked inside The Shack. Wendy and Soos had gone home, and Grunkle Stan was watching Baby Fights.

Neither of the twins really wanted to interact with Stan right now, so they went up to their room. Mabel sat perched on her bed, observing Dipper.

Dipper attempted to pick up his beloved journal, but then yelped in pain and dropped it.

"Dipper!"

"I-I'm alright, my hand just hurts... _a lot_..., Dipper said, saying the last part under his breath.

"Do you wanna talk about it..." Mabel prodded.

"No, I- I jus need to-to..." Dipper trailed off as he slipped into the bed covers.

Mabel smiled as she watched her brother finally get some sleep. She brushed her teeth and changed into some pjs, and decided to catch a few z's herself.


	2. Chapter 2

Dipper was asleep, but he felt like every fiber of his being was being tortured. It was like hell was in his body, but he knew it was just a dream... right? Was it just a dream? It felt too real.

Dipper rolled onto the floor due to a sharp pain in his side. It felt like someone was taking a knife and digging up into his ribcage, slowly making it's way to the heart. He started panting and sweating furiously. He honestly thought that he was going to die, but he didn't know how? Yes, Bill had hurt his body, but they were minor injuries... _wait. Bill. Was he the one causing this?!_

Dipper went from being in agony, to becoming furious with the dream demon that had tampered with him. He balled his fists in fury, then he screamed louder than he ever has.

" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

His hands were... ON FIRE?!

"WHAT THE HECK IS THIS? IS THIS SOME KIND OF CRUEL JOKE BECAUSE I'M NOT LAUGHING!"

Dipper looked at his hands a littler closer. The flames were slightly hot, so he knew they were real, yet somehow they didn't hurt him. The color is what enraged Dipper the most about them. They were blue... LIKE BILL'S!

"OK! I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU, DEMON! SHOW YOURSELF!"

Nothing happened.

Dipper, hands still on fire, was about to open the journal to see if there was anything on this, but he stopped himself.

_"What if I burn it?!"_ Dipper thought. He was going to just have to remember.

"Okay, so... what was it...?" thought Dipper aloud.

He began pacing back and forth, trying to think of the answer to his own question.

He didn't know how much time had passed. Everything felt like mere minutes rather than an hour. He looked at the clock. _1:46. _He groaned, then continued his pacing.

He was ready to give up, and maybe figure this out in the morn-no. "Something like this can't wait, but maybe Mabel could help me..." the pacing boy thought, weighing his options.

"...but what would Mabel know about this? I need to solve this as soon as possible..."

After a few more minutes of pointless pacing, and he discontentedly decided that this should just wait until morning.

He was slowly dragging himself back to his bed, wincing in discomfort, even though it had died down. He was at the edge of his bed, when he glanced at the mirror in the room.

He made a contorted expression of horror and curiosity. Dipper took slow, heavy steps. He moved like something was pulling him to the mirror. As if someone was making him move.

He gasped in complete terror.

Something in the mirror had caught his eye. His eye. _**WHAT WAS WRONG WITH HIS EYE?!**_

He became terrified once again as he gazed upon his reflection. His eye was glowing... yellow... and had more of a cat eye pupil instead of a human one. He felt something urging him to form a triangle around his eye. It felt so... right.

He shook his head violently to clear his seemingly warped thoughts. There was no longer a doubt in his mind that that stupid demon was doing all of this.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME, BILL?!" he angrily called out, turning his head to face out the window, remembering how Bill gave the illusion his eye was on the moon. He was enraged.

His eye glowed brighter and started to obtain an orange tint from his anger. He clenched his teeth, and narrowed his eyes. He looked like he was ready to murder someone. And he did.

He turned around once more to look in the mirror. He looked so... _evil_...

Seeing himself, he dropped down onto his knees, and cupped with face with his hands. Then he started to cry.

"_How could this happen?_" he asked, his soul completely shattered. The realization of what was happening had hit him like a hurricane.

He was a demon.


	3. Chapter 3

Mabel woke up the next morning feeling great. She had had an awesome dream where Waddles had super powers and they went around stopping crime! He called himself... **The Baconator!**

Mabel slipped out of the covers, only then realizing that her brother was on the floor. He was sleeping, but why was he on the floor?

She felt like she should wake him up, but at the same time, he probably needed the sleep. She contemplated her choices, but decided on waking him up.

Mabel lightly grabbed Dipper by his shoulders and shook him. He wasn't waking up. She shook him a little harder. Still nothing. She decided to pull out the big guns.

She got on the floor and tickled him. He woke up only seconds after Mabel had started, and was laughing. She smiled, having accomplished her mission, and stood up holding a hand out to her brother. He grabbed it, coming up to meet Mabel's face.

This is when she noticed that he wasn't opening his eyes.

"What's wrong with your eyes?"

"Uh-n-nothing" he stuttered.

Mabel knew that something was up.

"C'mon, what's wrong?"

"It's bad... like, you'll flip..." Dipper said hesitantly.

"YOU FINALLY FOUND ANOTHER LOVE INTEREST THAT ISN'T WENDY!?" Mabel practically screamed with joy.

"What? No- I mean, I-I don't still like her, I mean I like her-a-as a friend, haha..." Dipper stuttered and laughed nervously.

Mabel just gave him a knowing look, but shook it off.

"Seriously, Dipper, what's wrong?" she said adding a little more pressure to her tone.

Dipper made an expression that Mabel had never seen before, and he was only using his mouth to display it. He looked... guilty? No, he would be more red if it was that... maybe... embarrassment? Nope, he would definitely be blushing if it was that. What was it?

Dipper slowly opened both of his eyes, which was a bad decision on his part because it just added to the suspense. Then Mabel screamed.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE!?" she screeched.

"I DON'T KNOW MABEL!" he replied, not meaning to raise his voice at his sister.

"Do you think Bill had something to do with this?"

"Well... yes, but this isn't an illusion, if it was, you wouldn't be able to see it, right?"

"Uh... yes?" Mabel replied with uncertainty. She didn't know as much about this kind of stuff as Dipper did. She was the fun one, not the bookworm.

"Either way, we need to figure out what or who caused this." Dipper nervously said.

"Don't worry, Dip! We'll get your face back to normal in no time!" Mabel said jokingly to try and cheer her brother up in a situation like this.

Dipper did not take it that way. What did Mabel mean by "_get your face back to normal_"? _Does she think I look bad_, he thought. He felt what muscle he did have tense.

"What do you mean "get your face back to normal?", Dipper said, the tension in his voice there.

"I just meant that we need to fix you up..." she reluctantly replied, noting the tone in Dipper's voice. She knew her brother well enough to know that her teasing does not upset him, well, most of the time anyways. However, she was oblivious to the true anger that was stirring in Dipper.

Something in Dipper snapped. He dropped limply to the ground.

"DIPPER!"

Dipper slowly picked himself up off of the floor, but his expression was boiling with anger.

"Dipper?" Mabel asked cautiously. What was wrong with her brother.

He closed his eyes and clenched his fists. Within a few seconds, he opened his hands, only to have them engulfed in the beautiful, yet equally terrifying azure flames. Only one eye reopened. It was his demonic eye. Except now, it was a bright, blood red.

"NO ONE INSULTS ME!" he growled.

"D-Dip, i-it's not l-like that, I was just j-joki... Mabel tried to explain, only to have her voice become a silent squeak.

Dipper looked up at Mabel, and noticed the utterly terrified look on her face. His fiery expression softened, along with his eye and the flames from his hands, before disappearing all together, as if nothing ever happened.

"Mabel, I-I'm sorry. I don't know what got into me..." Dipper very sadly said as the ironic truthfulness of his own words hit him. _What_ _**had**__ gotten into me?_

"It's okay, bro- bro, I know you didn't mean it..." she trailed off as she looked at the teary expression on her twin's face. "Hey, let's head downstairs and eat some breakfast, it'll make you feel better" Mabel kindly offered.

"Okay, let's go..." agreed Dipper even though the last part wasn't true. It wasn't going to make him feel better. In the least, it would get his mind off of the subject, but that was just as unlikely.

"You comin'?" Mabel said stopping in the doorway. Dipper snapped out of his thoughts. _Wait. That could be the answer._

"Dipper..."

"Coming", he finally replied, and they made their way down to breakfast.


	4. Chapter 4

Dipper froze midway down the stairs.

"Nobody can see me like this!" Dipper anxiously whispered, gesturing to his face.

"Oh... right" Mabel agreed. "Hold on a sec." she said then ran back up to the bedroom. She came down a few minutes later, holding a black cloth.

"It's an eye patch!" Mabel exclaimed, holding the accessory out to her brother.

" Uh..." Dipper half groaned.

"C'mon! It's not so bad! I mean, if you have to cover up your freaky eye, might as well do it with style!" she remarked.

"Ugh...fine" Dipper reluctantly said, putting on the eye patch, and pouting after he did so. _He was not happy with this._

"If it helps, it looks adorable on you." Mabel commented, taking her brother's hand as they began to walk down the steps again.

"Yeah, yeah... actually I have one question. _Why_ do you even have this?"

Mabel shrugged and smiled, then they entered the kitchen.

Stan was making his not-so-famous Stancakes, when he turned around to face the twins.

"How did you two sleep?" Stan asked them.

"_Okay. Good so far. He hasn't noticed me yet._" Dipper told himself.

"Great!" Mabel said, being the first one to speak up. "I had a dream that waddles was a superhero known as **THE BACONATOR**, and we teamed up to stop crime, and save his fellow pigs from the evil** PROFESSOR BARBEQUE**!" Mabel joyfully answered.

Stan rolled his eyes, but you could tell that a smile was tugging at the corners of his lips.

Stan shifted his gaze to view Dipper.

_"Oh no"_

"Hey, kid, what's with the pirate gettup? You still crushing on Wendy? I guess you could say that you want... **THE BOOTY!** AHAHAHAHA!" Stan harshly joked before erupting into a hardy laughing/ coughing fit, pleasing himself with his joke.

Mabel was giggling. Dipper shot her a look, and she mouthed "sorry", but she was still smiling.

"Seriously, though. What's the deal?" Stan asked, wiping away his tears of laughter.

That word made Dipper flinch. Deal. Is that what caused him all this trouble?

"Answer me kid." Stan inquired, a little more serious this time.

"Uh-w-well y-you see I-I-" Dipper stuttered.

Mabel watched Dipper. _He needs help._ Mabel knew it was her job to save the day.

"Dipper has an-uh-an eye injury! Yeah, haha..." Mabel quickly lied.

"How did that happen" he asked again.

"_Ugh, what's with all the questions? Does he already know?_" Dipper worried.

"We- uh- we stayed up really late last night-" Dipper began.

"- and Dipper ran into something and it hurt his eye..." Mabel finished for him.

Grunkle Stan looked at them skeptically, but then he grunted, shrugged, and set the pancakes on the table.

_Phew_, Dipper mentally sighed. _That was close._


	5. Chapter 5

Dipper and Mabel finished their breakfast(which was pretty awful because he had slightly burnt the pancakes, but Mabel had washed her's down with Mabel Juice), and went back up to their room to get dressed.

When they got in the room, Dipper closed the door behind them, took off the eye patch, and turned to face his sister.

"Uh, Dip, why did you close the door?" Mabel asked curiously.

"Hand me the journal." He said giving her a determined stare which made Mabel slightly uncomfortable because of his steady glowing eye.

"Uh, okay..." Mabel replied with uncertainty, but she still gave him the book.

Dipper opened the book up to the page with Bill on it, and shot his sister another look.

"You might want to leave. There is something I need to take care of..." Dipper said dryly.

Mabel wasn't confident about this, knowing what he meant, but nonetheless, she exited the room, closing the door behind her.

Dipper inhaled, then exhaled forcefully. "Here goes nothing" he mumbled to himself.

Dipper read the passage and... nothing.

_Oh great._

A few more seconds passed, and then the room was drained of all colouration, except for Dipper and the demon that now gazed down on him.

"Well, well Pine Tree, look at you!" Bill remarked obviously pleased with this.

"I know that you're the one behind it, Bill! What do you want?!"

He laughed that annoying, unnerving laugh of his. "This is where you're wrong, Pine Tree!" he laughingly replied.

"Wh-what do you mean..." Dipper asked, starting to heat up and sweat.

" Well... you are actually only half wrong. You see, when a demon possesses a person, which doesn't ever really happen, that person is left with a... "_side effect_", he said with a very smirky look in his eye because he definitely lacked the ability to express it with other facial features.

"Are you saying t-that you, that I, tha-"

"Yes, I am. Welcome to the dark side, kid!" Bill said cutting him off, and returning to his chaotic laughter.

"SO I'M STUCK LIKE THIS!" Dipper shouted, wildly gesturing to himself.

"YEP!" Bill replied almost a little too happily.

"Wait- d-did- you d-do this on p-purpose" Dipper responded shakily.

"Well, not that I'd like to admit it, but you would probably find out sooner or later that I've always liked you..." Bill said in a cryptic tone.

"You what?!"

"I liked how you would not stop endlessly to figure out the many secrets of this little town, even after you had been warned by so many, but you just wouldn't listen... yes, my original intent was to destroy the journal, but this could perhaps work just as well, if not better! I could finally have an almost mentally equal being to talk to and mentor in the dreamscape..." he explained, but it still didn't make sense to Dipper.

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?! WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE TO GAIN FROM THIS?!" Dipper shouted at him, once again.

"Didn't I just explain, kid? I see that the demonic way of thinking hasn't kicked in, well, we'll just give it a little more time to develop..." he said eerily.

"B-bu-"

"Oh, don't worry, Pine Tree, I'll keep checking up on you every now and then, and when you need me, you know how to reach me..." he said as he pointed at the journal, then flashed out.

The world went back to normal, and a few minutes later, Mabel came in and sat down next to Dipper.

"So..." she asked.

Dipper sighed. "Things are going to get_ so_ much worse...".


End file.
